[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

FOR RELEASE: July 10, 2014 9AM PDT

BELLEVUE, WA – July 10, 2014: ArenaNet,
developer of the acclaimed
Guild Wars franchise, today announced that gamescom 2014
will be the site of the first
Guild Wars 2 International All-Stars Tournament pitting
players versus players from North America, Europe and China. The
PvP tournament marks the game’s first truly global
competition by inviting players from China, where ArenaNet and
Chinese game publisher KongZhong launched the game this past
May.

ArenaNet is partnering with Twitch, the world’s leading
video platform and community for gamers, to put on this
year’s International All-Stars Tournament at gamescom, taking
place August 14-17 at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany. There
will be daily matches featured on the show floor at the Twitch
booth and live streamed through both the Twitch main channel at
twitch.tv and the Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel at
twitch.tv/guildwars2.

“When it comes to competitive gaming, Twitch has
established itself as the premiere destination for the
industry’s most premium content,” said Jason Fletcher,
Events BD Manager, EMEA, Twitch. “With ArenaNet using our
platform and gamescom booth to broadcast their
Guild Wars 2 event, it’s another example of how
strong the esports content and community is on Twitch.”

As another first, ArenaNet is inviting fans from North America
and Europe to vote on which players they want to see compete as
All-Stars. Fans can choose from two pools of 16 qualified
competitors from each region, with voting taking place at the
tournament site starting
today through July 17. For China, competitors are being chosen from
KongZhong’s weekly tournament series. All
Guild Wars 2 All-Stars will receive paid travel and
accommodations to come compete at the tournament in Germany.

We’ve rounded up 32 of the top All-Star candidates from
North America and Europe – and it’s your duty to decide
who will represent each region at the event!

Our North American and European candidates have secured their
spots on the ballot by competing in ArenaNet-sponsored events such
as the Tournament of Legends, the ArenaNet PAX Prime Invitational
Tournament, or other community-run events such as the Mistpedia and
ESL Weekly Cups. Because the competitive scene in China is
relatively new, our Chinese All-Star team has been selected by our
partner, KongZhong, from their weekly tournament series.

·
All-Star Voting

Starting today, you can cast up to five votes per region to help
determine which candidates will attend the event. Choose wisely
– your region’s chances at winning the title are on the
line!

Not that familiar with the competitive PvP scene? You can always
discuss the candidates on the
Guild Wars 2 forums (INSERT: Link to GW2 PvP forums) or
with any of your PvP-oriented friends! We’ll also be
discussing the All-Star Vote during a special edition of our
bi-weekly competitive Livestream, Ready Up, on Friday, July 11, at
12:00 p.m. PDT at
twitch.tv/guildwars2!

You can find more information on the candidates, including
player biographies, on the All-Star Voting Ballot. All-Star
candidate voting will remain open for one week, ending July 17.

Voting ends 11:59 p.m. PT 7/17/14. Must be at least 13 to vote.
Limit one (1) vote per person/account. See
Voting Terms which govern,
for complete details.

ArenaNet will reveal the final list of competitors after fan
voting closes and results have been tallied. For updates on
the 2014
Guild Wars 2 International All-Stars Tournament, please
visit
www.guildwars2.com.

About Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2® is a visually stunning MMO that offers
players the epic grandeur of a massive role playing environment
combined with innovative combat mechanics, dynamic events, and
customized personal storytelling. Building on the success of
Guild Wars, NCSOFT and game developer ArenaNet™ have
created an MMO that lets gamers play the way they want, while at
the same time retaining the no-subscription-fee business model that
made the original
Guild Wars so popular. For more details on
Guild Wars 2 and its releases, please visit
www.guildwars2.com.

About Twitch

Twitch is the world’s leading video platform and community
for gamers where more than 50 million gather every month to
broadcast, watch and talk about video games. Twitch’s video
platform is the backbone of both live and on-demand distribution
for the entire video game ecosystem. This includes game developers,
publishers, media outlets, events, user generated content, and the
entire esports scene. In February 2014, Wall Street Journal ranked
Twitch as the 4th largest website in terms of peak internet traffic
in the U.S., fortifying the brand as an entertainment industry
leader and the epicenter of social video for gamers. For more
information visit:
www.twitch.tv.